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Thursday, November 8, 2012

Recipe Tree

Old Hand Written Recipe Cards

Several weeks ago I was reading a blog post on the Etsy Blog about old typewritten recipe cards entitled Kitchen Histories It really hit home because I have a wonderful collection of handwritten recipe cards from mid century, almost all from my mother and grandmother. They really are a written history of food through the decades. It is amazing how different we cook in the 21st century. Custard Pie?? Who makes homemade pie besides just a few of us? It is fast becoming a lost art. And there really is an art to making a delicious homemade pie!
I remember my grandmother on Sunday mornings, up very early, busy making two or three pies at a time for Sunday dinner.
These old recipe cards are becoming treasures to hold on to and keep. Very soon, if not by now, almost no one actually takes out a card and actually hand writes a recipe. They are bookmarked in our computers or put in a computer file. No personal little side notes to tell us a little tweak we made to the recipe or maybe something we substituted for an ingredient.

For a number of years now at the holidays, I have been putting up a Recipe Tree in the eating area of our kitchen. All the recipes are my families recipes made down thru the years, some traditionally at holiday time. The tree also includes a collection of old antique cookie and biscuit cutters and some handmade felted ornaments. The tree skirt, which doesn't show here, is an old apron.

My goal before taking the tree down, is to try and make one of the recipes. Sometimes it turns out and sometimes not so much! But it is fun and always brings back memories of family, traditions, and holidays past.

Thanks to the Etsy Blog post I realize I really do have a treasure here to keep. I thought I was the only one who treasured these old family snippets of the past. Maybe you have a few tucked away somewhere in a drawer that would make interesting reading, bring back some warm and fuzzy memories, and possibly a fresh idea for dinner!